Adding peripheral devices to mobile devices via smart interchangeable cover

ABSTRACT

An interchangeable cover is endowed with one or more peripherals complementary electronics to add the one or more peripherals to a mobile device, to which the interchangeable cover is attached. In various embodiments, the peripherals may be a credit card reader, add on non-volatile storage, an ASIC, and so forth. In various embodiments, the complementary electronics are packaged in an ASIC with output pins similar to that of a SIM chip, which may include a properly equipped protocol processor for de-packaging and packaging data being inputted/outputted in accordance with selected protocols. In one embodiment, the cover is U-shaped. In a wireless mobile phone embodiment, the cover is attached to a rotabable sub-section of a pivotable section.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part application, claimingpriority to

(a) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/087,098, filed Mar. 1, 2002, nowabandoned entitled “PERSONALIZING ELECTRONIC DEVICES AND SMARTCOVERING”, which itself claims priority to its provisional filing No.60/306,326, on Jul. 17, 2001;

(b) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/932,154, filed Aug. 17, 2001,now U.S. Pat. No. 6,721,545 entitled “MOBILE ELECTRONIC DEVICE ANDCOVERING FOR SIMILAR DEVICES WITH ORNAMENT ATTACHMENT MECHANISM”, whichitself claims priority to its provisional filing No. 60/292,123, on May17, 2001; and

-   -   (c) U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/419,001, filed Oct. 15,        2002, entitled “Adding Peripherals to Mobile Devices via Smart        Interchangeable Covers”.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of mobile devices. Morespecifically, the present invention is related to adding peripherals tomobile devices, such as wireless mobile phones, personal digitalassistants (PDA) and so forth, via smart interchangeable covers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Advances in microprocessor and telecommunication technology have led towide spread deployment and adoption of mobile devices, such as wirelessmobile phones and PDA. For wireless mobile phones, in addition towireless telephony, the late models are often equipped with advancedcapabilities, such as calendar, address book, games, access to the WorldWide Web (WWW), emails, instant messaging, and so forth. Similarly, forPDA, in addition to calendar and address book functions, the late modelsare often equipped with advanced capabilities, such as wirelesstelephony, word processing, spreadsheets, and so forth. In other words,for advanced models, there are increasing cross over or convergent ofthe functionalities.

However, because of the compactness of the mobile device, typically onlylimited number of auxiliary and/or I/O peripherals (hereinafter, simplyperipherals) are provided. For example, in the case of wireless mobilephones, typically only a 12-key keypad, a handful of control buttons,and limited amount of non-volatile storage are available, and in thecase of PDA, only a handful of control buttons and limited amount ofnon-volatile storage are available. As a result, usability and in turnthe user experience of these advanced functions are poor, which in turnleads to the reduced acceptance of the advanced functions, removal ofeconomic incentives for further development and introduction of theadvanced functions.

Some prior art mobile devices support the provision of additionperipherals, such as a keyboard, through attachment to an I/O port ofthe mobile device. However, as described earlier, because of the inheritcompactness of mobile devices, only limited number of I/O ports,typically one, is available for attachment of external peripherals.

Thus, a need exists to provide additional peripherals to a mobile devicein a more efficient manner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be described by way of exemplary embodiments,but not limitations, illustrated in the accompanying drawings in whichlike references denote similar elements, and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a front view of an interchangeable cover incorporatedwith the teachings of the present invention, in accordance with oneembodiment;

FIGS. 2 a–2 b illustrate a back view of an interchangeable coverincorporated with the teachings of the present invention, in accordancewith two embodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates another perspective view of the interchangeablecover;

FIG. 4 illustrates a perspective view of the interchangeable coverhaving been removably mated with a core unit of a mobile device, inaccordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 5 illustrates an architectural view of the relevant electronicelements of the interchangeable cover of FIG. 1, in accordance with oneembodiment;

FIG. 6 illustrates an architectural view of the mobile device of FIG. 3,in accordance with one embodiment;

FIGS. 7 a–7 b illustrate the operational flow of the relevant aspects ofthe device driver of FIG. 6, in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 8 illustrates an interchangeable cover incorporated with theteachings of the present invention, in accordance with an alternateembodiment; and

FIGS. 9 a–9 c illustrate an interchangeable over incorporated with theteachings of the present invention, in accordance with yet anotherembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

The present invention includes an interchangeable cover equipped to addperipherals to a mobile device.

Parts of the description will be presented in terms, such as mobiledevices, cover, peripherals, interface and so forth, consistent with themanner commonly employed by those skilled in the art to convey thesubstance of their work to others skilled in the art. As well understoodby those skilled in the art, the terms “mobile devices” as used herein,including in the claims, comprise wireless mobile phones, PDA, and otherdevices of the like.

The term “cover” as used herein refers to a part that inherently includemultiple surfaces that cover at least multiple ones of the exteriorsurfaces of the body or core unit of a mobile device, where the exteriorsurfaces are inherently disposed in different geometric planes.Accordingly, while a “cover” may come in many variants, as illustratedby the description to follow, a “card” like part, i.e. a part having theform factor of a “credit card”, a PCMCIA card, a PC card, a CompactFlash card and so forth, is not a “cover”, for the purpose of thepresent application. A “card” like part, for the purpose of the presentapplication, by definition, is considered to occupy only one geometricplane.

In the following description, various aspects of the present inventionwill be described. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in theart that the present invention may be practiced with only some or allaspects of the present invention. For purposes of explanation, specificnumbers, materials and configurations are set forth in order to providea thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will beapparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may bepracticed without the specific details. In other instances, well-knownfeatures are omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the presentinvention.

Various operations will be described as multiple discrete steps in turn,in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the present invention,however, the order of description should not be construed as to implythat these operations are necessarily order dependent. In particular,these operations need not be performed in the order of presentation. Thephrase “in one embodiment” is used repeatedly. The phrase generally doesnot refer to the same embodiment, however, it may. The terms“comprising”, “having” and “including” are synonymous, unless thecontext dictates otherwise.

FIGS. 1 and 2 a–2 b illustrate an overview of the interchangeable coverof the present invention, in accordance with two embodiments. FIG. 1illustrates a front view of the cover of both embodiments, which areidentical for these two embodiments, whereas FIGS. 2 a and 2 billustrate the back view of the cover of the two embodiments, which aredifferent for these embodiments.

As illustrated, interchangeable cover 100 of the present invention isadvantageously endowed with at least one peripheral 102 or 104 andcomplementary electronics (see FIGS. 3 and 5) to facilitate addition ofperipherals 102–104 to a complementarily equipped mobile device, towhich interchangeable cover 100 is attached.

For the illustrated embodiments, peripheral 102 represents a credit cardreader, whereas peripheral 104 represents “add on” non-volatile storage,which may be EEPROM, Flash Memory, a compact disk drive and otherdevices of the like.

In alternate embodiments, peripherals 102–104 may be peripherals ofother types, including but are not limited to ASICs having specialfunction logic, such as compression/decompression, MPx player, opticalscanner and so forth. In alternate embodiments, peripherals 102–104 maybe disposed in other locations of cover body 110 of cover 100.

Still referring to FIG. 1, for the illustrated embodiment, cover body110 of cover 100 has a substantially “rotated” U-shape or “taco shell”shape. Cover 100 is designed to attach to a core unit of a mobile device(such as the core unit of wireless mobile phone 300 of FIG. 4), in aside way manner (as denoted by arrow 310 of FIG. 4). For the embodiment,cover body 110 has multiple surfaces occupying different geometricplanes, and covers at least partially each of a front, a side and a backexterior surface of the core unit of phone 300. For the embodiment,cover body 110 is designed to be snapped on to the core unit of a mobiledevice.

In alternate embodiments, cover body 110 may assume a body shape otherthan the illustrated “rotated” U-shape. Cover body 110 may also bedesigned to attach to a core unit of a mobile device in manner that isother than a side way manner. Similarly, cover body 110 may also bedesigned to attach to a core unit of a mobile device in a non-snapped onmanner, even employing one or more fasteners. A number of thesealternate embodiments are further described later.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the complementary electronics of cover 100 arepackaged as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) 202. Forthe illustrated embodiment, ASIC 202 has output “pins” that are similarto the output pins of embedded ASIC found in what's commonly referred toas “SIM chips”. Further, ASIC 202 is disposed on the inside “side”surface of “rotated” U-shape body 110.

Peripherals 102–104 are coupled to ASIC 202 by way of traces disposed onthe inside surfaces of “rotated” U-shape body 110. In variousembodiments, a protective interior layer may be included with cover body110 to protect the traces. The protective interior layer may be made ofany one of a number of known suitable materials, such as plastics.

In alternate embodiments, ASIC 202 may employ output “pins” of othertypes. ASIC 202 may be disposed in other location or locations of coverbody 110. Further, the complementary electronics may be “packaged” inother manners.

FIG. 4 illustrates a perspective view of cover 100 of the presentinvention, attached to a core unit of a mobile device. For theillustrated embodiment, mobile device 300 is a wireless mobile phone. Inparticular, mobile device 300 includes an expansion I/O interfacedisposed at a “side” surface (covered by cover 100).

The expansion I/O interface comprises contacts that are complementary tothe output “pins” of ASIC 202. Further, the expansion I/O interface isdisposed at a location on an outer surface of the core unit of mobiledevice 300 corresponding to the disposition location of ASIC 202 oncover body 110.

From the descriptions to follow, it shall be readily apparent to oneskilled in the art that the present invention may also be practiced withother types of interfaces, as well as with other mobile devices, inparticular, personal digital assistants.

FIG. 5 illustrates an architectural view of the relevant complementaryelectronics, in accordance with one embodiment. For the embodiment, therelevant complementary electronics 400 includes an analog-to-digitalconverter 402 a, a digital-to-analog converter 402 b, protocol processor403, storage unit 404, and input/output (I/O) interface 406, coupled toeach other as shown.

Analog-to-digital converter 402 a is employed to digitize the analogsignals received from peripherals 102–104. Similarly, digital-to-analogconverter 402 b is employed to convert digital signals into analogsignals for output to peripherals 102–104 if necessary.

While the present invention is being described with add on peripheralsthat require A/D and D/A signal conversion, the present inventioncontemplates and includes the addition of peripherals that do notrequire such signal conversion. Modification of the describedembodiments to arrive at such embodiments are well within the ability ofthose skilled in the art, accordingly will not be separately described.

Where applicable, protocol processor 403 is employed to recover theinput data, and to package the output data for output in cases wheredata are inputted and outputted in accordance with a pre-definedprotocol, e.g. a protocol in conformance to a particular credit cardreader, a protocol in conformance to a particular non-volatile storage.Where applicable, for input data, protocol processor 403 performs theappropriate acknowledgement, processing of the header packet, extractionof data from the data packets, and so forth. Similarly, whereapplicable, for output data, protocol processor 403 performs theappropriate formation of data packets, formation of header packets,request for the serial bus and so forth.

Storage unit 404 is employed to store the digitized input data receivedfrom peripherals 102–104, and to store the digital data to be outputtedto peripherals 102–104.

In various embodiments, storage unit 404 may be any one of a number ofnon-volatile memory known in the art, including but not limited toEEPROM, and so forth. In various embodiments, the storage locations ofstorage-unit 404 may be memory mapped into the memory space of mobiledevice 300.

I/O interface 406 facilitates an application or a system service ofmobile device 300 in reading the inputs provided by peripherals 102–104,and to writing the outputs to be outputted to peripherals 102–104. Asdescribed earlier, I/O interface 406 may be any one of a number of I/Ointerfaces known in the art.

FIG. 6 illustrates mobile device 300 in further detail, in accordancewith one embodiment. As alluded to earlier, for the illustratedembodiment, mobile device 300 is a wireless mobile phone; however, forother embodiments, mobile device 300 may be other mobile devices,including but are not limited to PDA.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, the core unit of wireless mobile phone 300includes conventional elements, such as micro-controller/processor 502,digital signal processor (DSP) 504, non-volatile memory 506, generalpurpose input/output (GPIO) interface 508, radio receiver 510, andtransmit/receive (TX/RX) 512 (also known as a transceiver), coupled toeach other via bus 514, and disposed on a circuit board 520.

The core unit of wireless mobile phone 300 is endowed with a softwareimplementation of a device driver 532 in support of the electronicspackaged in ASIC 202.

Except for device driver 532 provided to mobile device 300, whichrelevant operating logic will be described more fully below, each ofthese elements 502–514 performs its conventional function known in theart, and is intended to represent a broad range of such element and itsequivalents. In particular, GPIO 508 is configured to generate aninterrupt notifying control processor 502 of data read from cover 100,which in turn directly or indirectly causes an application of mobiledevice 300 to be invoked and process the data read. Likewise, GPIO 508is configured to write output data to be outputted to peripherals102/104 onto storage unit 404, on request of control processor 502.

Further, TX/RX 512 may be designed to support one or more of any of theknown signaling protocols, including but are not limited to CDMA, TDMA,GSM, and so forth. Moreover TX/RX 512 may be implemented using separatetransmitter and receiver.

Accordingly, elements 502–514 will not be further described.

As illustrated in FIG. 7 a, upon invocation, device driver 532 of mobiledevice 300 attempts to read the memory mapped storage locations of cover100 (hereinafter, simply input buffer on cover 100), block 602. At block604, device driver 532 determines if data were present and read. If nodata were present and read, the process continues back at block 602.

However, if data were read, device driver 532 stores the data read instorage locations of memory 506 of mobile device 300 (hereinafter,simply, input buffer in mobile device 300), block 606. As alluded toearlier, device driver 532 further notifies processor 502, causing anapplication to process the data read, block 608. Thereafter, the processcontinues back at block 602 again.

Similarly, as illustrated in FIG. 7 b, upon invocation, device driver532 of mobile device 300 attempts to read the storage locations of cover100 allocated for storing data to be outputted to peripherals 102–104(hereinafter, simply output buffer on mobile device 300), block 622. Atblock 624, device driver 532 determines if data were present and read.If no data were present and read, the process continues back at block622.

However, if data were read, device driver 532 writes the data read outinto storage locations of storage unit 404 of cover 100 (hereinafter,simply, output buffer of cover 100), block 626. If appropriate, devicedriver 532 further notifies protocol processor 403 to package the datafor output to peripherals 102–104, block 628. Thereafter, the processcontinues back at block 622 again.

Accordingly, data may be advantageously inputted and/or outputted formobile device 300 and peripherals 102–104.

ALTERNATE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 8 illustrates an alternate embodiment of the present invention.More specifically, FIG. 8 illustrates an exploded view of a mobile phone800 having core unit 800 b and cover 800 a, endowed with the teachingsof the present invention. Similar to mobile phone 300 of FIG. 4, coreunit 800 b of mobile phone 800 includes in particular, a number of inputkeys 802, display 804, expansion interface 806, and internal componentssimilar to those of FIG. 6. As described earlier, the internalcomponents are equipped with logic to enable additions of peripherals822 and/or 824 to mobile phone 800. Further, core unit 800 b includes afront and a number of side and end exteriors surfaces 810 a–810 e,disposed in different geometric planes.

Cover 800 a is of a face plate type, having “cut outs” 822, tofacilitate mating with core unit 800 b. When mated, cover 800 a coversat least front surface 810 a and one of the side and end surfaces 810b–810 e of core unit 800 b. As the embodiment of FIG. 1, cover 800 aincludes one or more peripherals 822 and/or 824, and electroniccomponent 836 having earlier described complementary logic, to add oneor more peripherals 822 and/or 824 to mobile device 800.

FIGS. 9 a–9 c illustrate yet another embodiment of the presentinvention. More specifically, FIG. 9 a-9 c illustrate three mated viewsof a mobile phone 900 having a core unit and cover 910, endowed with theteachings of the present invention. Unlike the earlier describedembodiments, the core unit of mobile phone 900 has a multi-section formfactor comprising a first section 902 and a second section 904, and thesecond section 904 is further comprised of at least two sub-sections 904a–904 b. The first and second sections 902–904 may pivot towards eachother as denoted by direction arrow 906 a or away from each otheropposite to the direction denoted by arrow 906 a. Sub-section 904 a mayrotate relative to sub-section 904 b as denoted by the directionsdenoted by arrows 906 b–906 c. In other words, mobile phone 900 may beconsidered as an improved version of what is commonly referred to as“flip” phones.

Similar to mobile phones 300 and 800 of FIGS. 4 and 8, the core unit ofmobile phone 900 includes in particular, display 908, a number of inputkeys and expansion interface (covered by cover 910), and internalcomponents similar to those of FIG. 6. As described earlier, theinternal components are equipped with logic to enable additions of oneor more peripherals 922 and/or 924 to mobile phone 900. Further, section904 of mobile phone 900 with which cover 910 is to mate, includes afront and a number of side and end exteriors surfaces, disposed indifferent geometric planes.

Cover 910 is of a type similar to cover 100 of FIG. 1, i.e. U-shaped,except peripherals 922 and 924 to be added to mobile phone 900 andelectronic component 926 are disposed on the inside and outside surfacesof the “back” surface respectively. As before, upon mating with section904 of mobile phone 900, cover 910 covers at least partially a frontsurface and one of the side and end surfaces of section 904. For theembodiment, by rotating sub-section 904 a relative to sub-section 904 bof section 904, either input keys 916 or peripheral 922 may be madeavailable for use in conjunction with display 908.

CONCLUSION AND EPILOGUE

Thus, it can be seen from the above descriptions, a novel method foradding peripherals to a mobile device, have been described.

While the present invention has been described in terms of the foregoingembodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the inventionis not limited to the embodiments described. The present invention canbe practiced with modification and alteration within the spirit andscope of the appended claims. Thus, the description is to be regarded asillustrative instead of restrictive on the present invention.

1. An interchangeable cover comprising: a cover body adapted to matewith a mobile device, and to serve as a cover of the mobile device, themobile device having an extension interface; an input/output (I/O)interface disposed on the cover body, and adapted to engage with theextension interface of the mobile device; at least one peripheral devicedisposed on an exterior surface of the cover body; and an electroniccomponent, disposed on an interior surface of the cover body, coupled tothe peripheral device and the I/O interface, the electronic componentbeing separate and distinct from the at least one peripheral device andconfigured to facilitate adding the at least one peripheral device tothe mobile device mated with the cover body, through said I/O andextension interfaces, as peripheral device(s) of the mobile device. 2.The cover of claim 1, wherein the cover body is U-shaped and designed tobe attached to the mobile device from a side of the mobile device. 3.The cover of claim 1, wherein the cover is a face plate, with the coverbody designed to be attached to the mobile device from a front of themobile device.
 4. The cover of claim 1, wherein the at least oneperipheral device comprises a non-volatile storage, and the electroniccomponent is equipped to facilitate adding the non-volatile storage tothe mobile device as an added non-volatile peripheral storage of themobile device.
 5. The cover of claim 1, wherein the at least oneperipheral device comprises a volatile storage, and the electroniccomponent is equipped to facilitate adding the volatile storage to themobile device as an added volatile peripheral storage of the mobiledevice.
 6. The cover of claim 1, wherein the at least one peripheraldevice comprises an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), andthe electronic component is equipped to facilitate adding the ASIC tothe mobile device as an added peripheral ASIC of the mobile device. 7.The cover of claim 1, wherein the at least one peripheral devicecomprises a credit card reader, and the electronic component is equippedto facilitate adding the credit card reader to the mobile device as aperipheral credit card reader of the mobile device.
 8. The cover ofclaim 1, wherein the at least one peripheral device comprises an opticalscanner, and the electronic component is equipped to facilitate addingthe optical scanner to the mobile device as a peripheral optical scannerof the mobile device.
 9. The cover of claim 1, wherein at least oneperipheral device is disposed on a front surface of the cover body. 10.The cover of claim 1, wherein at least one peripheral device is disposedon a side surface of the cover body.
 11. The cover of claim 1, whereinat least one peripheral device is disposed on a back surface of thecover body.
 12. The cover of claim 1, wherein the electronic componentcomprises a protocol processor.
 13. The cover of claim 12, wherein theelectronic component further comprises a storage unit.
 14. The cover ofclaims 1, wherein the mobile device comprises functionalities of atleast a selected one of a wireless mobile phone and a personal digitalassistant.
 15. A mobile device comprising a core unit including at leastone extension interface; and an interchangeable cover removably attachedto the core unit to serve as a cover of the core unit, theinterchangeable cover having at least one peripheral device, aninput/output (I/O) interface, and an electronic component, coupled toeach other, with the at least one peripheral device disposed on anexterior surface of the cover and the electronic component disposed onan interior surface of the cover, the at least one peripheral device andthe electronic component being separate and distinct from each other,and the I/O interface adapted to mate with the extension interface ofthe core unit to facilitate exchange of data between the core unit andthe interchangeable cover, and at least one aspect of the electroniccomponent designed to add the at least one peripheral device to the coreunit, as peripheral device(s) of the core unit.
 16. The mobile device ofclaim 15, wherein the interchangeable cover comprises a cover body thatis U-shaped and designed to be attached to the mobile device from a sideof the mobile device.
 17. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein theinterchangeable cover is a face plate designed to be attached to themobile device from a front of the mobile device.
 18. The mobile deviceof claim 15, wherein the at least one peripheral device of theinterchangeable cover comprises a non-volatile storage, and the at leastone aspect of the electronic component is designed to add thenon-volatile storage to the core unit, as a peripheral device of thecore unit.
 19. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the at least oneperipheral device of the interchangeable cover comprises a volatilestorage, and the at least one aspect of the electronic component isdesigned to add the volatile storage to the core unit, as a peripheraldevice of the core unit.
 20. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein theat least one peripheral device of the interchangeable cover comprises anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and the at least oneaspect of the electronic component is designed to add the ASIC to thecore unit, as an add-on ASIC of the core unit.
 21. The mobile device ofclaim 15, wherein the at least one peripheral device of theinterchangeable cover comprises a credit card reader, and the at leastone aspect of the electronic component is designed to add the creditcard reader to the core unit, as a peripheral device of the core unit.22. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the at least one peripheraldevice of the interchangeable cover comprises an optical scanner, andthe at least one aspect of the electronic component is designed to addthe optical scanner to the core unit, as a peripheral device of the coreunit.
 23. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the electroniccomponents of the interchangeable cover comprise, a protocol processor.24. The mobile device of claim 23, wherein the electronic component ofthe interchangeable cover comprises a storage unit.
 25. The mobiledevice of claims 15, wherein the mobile device comprises functionalitiesof at least a selected one of a wireless mobile phone and a personaldigital assistant.
 26. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the coreunit comprises a first and a second section with the second sectionhaving a first and a second sub-section where the second-sub-section isrotatable relative to the first sub-section, and the cover removablyattaches to the second sub-section of the second section.
 27. A wirelessmobile phone comprising: a core wireless telephony unit including afirst and a second section with the second section having a first and asecond sub-section where the second-sub-section is rotatable relative tothe first sub-section; and a cover including at least one peripheraldevice, removably mated with the second sub-section.
 28. The wirelessmobile phone of claim 27 wherein said at least one peripheral devicecomprises a selected one of a non-volatile storage, a volatile storage,and an ASIC.
 29. The wireless mobile phone of claim 27 wherein said atleast one peripheral device comprises a selected one of a credit cardreader and an optical scanner.
 30. The wireless mobile phone of claim27, wherein the first and the second sections are pivotally coupled toeach other.